India 376 (Ashwin 113, Jadeja 86, Mahmud 5-83, Taskin 3-55) and 81 for 3 (Gill 33*) lead Bangladesh 149 (Bumrah 4-50, Deep 2-19, Jadeja 2-19) by 308 runs
Bangladesh escaped the frying pan with four quick wickets to bowl India out early on the second morning, but jumped straight into the fire of the relentless Indian bowling attack, getting bowled out in just 47.1 overs. India chose to bat on despite a lead of 227, and led by 308 with seven second-innings wickets in hand by stumps on day two.
Even though India bowled in considerably less helpful conditions than day one, there was no respite for the Bangladesh batters. Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj took eight between them when there was assistance for the pacers, while Ravindra Jadeja broke Bangladesh’s biggest partnership when conditions eased off.
The day started on a positive note for Bangladesh. Taskin Ahmed used the second new ball much better than the first for three wickets, Hasan Mahmud completed Bangladesh’s first five-for in India, and they let India add only 37 to their overnight score. However, a quick reminder followed that their bowlers had committed too many errors on day one already. India’s fast bowlers were on the money immediately, bowling testing spell after testing spell, drawing an error once every three balls to reduce Bangladesh to 40 for 5.
Bumrah began over the wicket to the left-hand openers, moving the ball away consistently, but went around for the last ball of the first over. Shadman Islam left him, probably because all the previous five balls had moved away, but this one seamed back in to hit the top of off. Zakir Hasan survived an lbw call that both the umpire and the India captain misjudged, but Deep proved to be too good for him and Mominul Haque.
The first over from Deep, immediately around the wicket, wasn’t the greatest, but in his second he got the ball to seam in from a good length just outside off. Zakir was beaten completely while Mominul managed to get his pad in line only for the ball to ricochet into the wicket. He would have been lbw anyway. Mushfiqur Rahim edged the hat-trick ball towards gully but it fell short.
Post lunch, India went back to their top two bowlers, who had only bowled short spells before the interval. Siraj, who had lost out on Zakir’s wicket earlier, was the most accurate of the three. Najmul Hossain tried to walk at him to counter the movement, but still managed to only edge to second slip as a wobble-seam ball seamed away from him.
Bumrah kept testing Mushfiqur before he bowled a rare delivery that swung after pitching. You can’t mean to do that but it sometimes happens – mostly when the seam is upright – that the ball starts to swing after going past the batter. This one started to go even before it went past Mushfiqur, who had the angle covered otherwise. It took the edge, went quickly to second slip, and began to swerve away from KL Rahul at the last moment. Rahul’s upper body turned with the ball, and his soft hands meant the catch was taken.
By now the movement began to settle down, and Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan put together a quick stand of 51 with some good-looking drives. Then India’s spin twins came on and gave away nothing despite little assistance for them from the pitch. In trying to dominate them, Litton ended up playing a slog-sweep much squarer than he would have liked, offering a catch to deep square leg. Shakib unfortunately reverse-swept Ravindra Jadeja straight into his boot for a lob to Rishabh Pant.
Just before tea, India brought back the threat of Siraj and Bumrah. Siraj found the edge immediately but it didn’t carry, but with what proved to be the last ball before tea, Bumrah got the better of Mahmud. Bangladesh were still 65 short of avoiding the follow-on. The last two Bangladesh wickets hung around for three quarters of an hour, including a boundary off Bumrah that clearly set something off. Bumrah softened Taskin Ahmed up with short balls, hitting him on the helmet and the glove, before cleaning him up with a pinpoint yorker.
The tall Nahid Rana didn’t quite fancy getting behind the line of Bumrah either but managed to somehow deny him the five-for, also hitting him for two boundaries. Eventually, he played Siraj on as he slogged at one, giving him his second wicket. India had more than an hour and a half to bat before stumps on day two.
So far ahead in the game were they, India came out swinging. Yashasvi Jaiswal took 10 runs off the first over, Rohit Sharma flicked the first ball he faced for four, but they soon discovered the pitch was still not flat enough to be toying around with the bowling. Their wickets made it the most – 16 – in a single day’s play at Chepauk. Shubman gill and Virat Kohli then batted to the merit of the bowling, but a rare dismissal – a right-hand batter getting out lbw to an offspinner playing forward – made it 17 wickets in the day. It was Kohli, who did not review it, and Ultra Edge then suggested an inside edge. By stumps, India were more than 300 ahead.
